The image above reminds me of the famous quote, “United We Stand, Divided We Fall” – (Abraham Lincoln). However, some are not so quick to unite, when pepper-spray, attack dogs, rubber bullets, arrests, and even worse is the consequence of standing-up for what you believe in. Egypt, Syria, and the Ukraine are all excellent modern object lessons of what happens to a people united against tyranny, corruption, and violence. They are labeled as terrorists, fascists, or Nazis by the ruling elite, then arrested, assassinated, starved and/or barrel bombed. This form of subtraction, is a ruthless calculation of the costs of waging war against one’s own people. Furthermore, the sum total of the revolutionary change, is that the illusion of a once stable, albeit oppressive society vanishes into thin air, and is replaced by an even more extreme and heavy-handed despotism, backed by a new and perpetual military martial-law. So everyone across the planet seeking a redress of grievances for all the wrongs, who demand political and social reforms, and a better quality of life for all need to be very careful what they wish for! Why? The powers that be won’t likely relinquish their reigns of power without a fight. A fight that will likely add-up to some very harsh unintended consequences.

Likewise, I don’t know about you, but I think they have been pretty good so far at keeping us all divided! The suffering of people world-wide, along with the spread of Democratic values and communication globally by social media like Facebook, is causing and revealing a level of world-wide political instability perhaps never before fathomed by those in power. The entire global political and economic system is far more fragile than anyone ever realized. Now that we sink or swim together (despite our perceived differences), a political, economic, or natural disaster in one country, affects us all in every country. The power elite in all nations now fear this real and dangerous instability, as well as the technological mechanisms, and people who are now proliferating revolutionary thought over the web. Hence, Turkey’s banning of Twitter & You Tube, North Korea and China’s stance on Western-inspired social media, and the U.S.’s NSA monitoring of everyone and everything.

However, when your government is exposed as being covertly oppressive of freedom, who is really the terrorist? When peaceful law-abiding citizens around the world get labeled as radicals for simply exercising their inalienable rights, endowed to them by their creator, then the problem is not with the people, the problem is with the people in power. What we now have is a loose coalition of oppressive unlimited governments around the world, trying to keep a lid on 7 billion people demanding a better quality of life, a cleaner world, and more freedom.

The people of the world may yet rise-up and lash-out at these immoral and oppressive coalitions in an effort to once again engage in a more free and independent self-rule. Ironically, perhaps that is at least one reason why Vladimir Putin’s recent decisions regarding the Ukraine issue have been praised in some corners of Russia by the Russian people. But regarding these types of revolutionary efforts, specific coalitions of power elite now actively use social media against the forces for change, and they amass their vast resources whenever and wherever needed to “extinguish” political and economic “fires” that threaten their world order whenever they arise. In fact, it is my contention that they now manipulate democratic values and the way the game is played to the extent that the people now vote their own repression into existence. This is what has been done in the Crimea, it is what has been done in North Korea, it is what has been done in Egypt, and it is what was done after 9/11 in the United States with the signing into law of the Patriot Act. Democratic values manipulated for preplanned oppressive outcomes, have become the “Trojan horse” of the power elite, and social media has turned everyone tech-savy enough to use a computer into a potential “person of interest” to be further investigated so as to ensure we are not “enemies of the state.”

Wouldn’t it be so wild to discover that of the 50 billion predicted planets in the Milky Way Galaxy (500 million of which are predicted to be able to sustain life) that an intelligent life-form might actually exist on another world, and be sufficiently intelligent and advanced to be curious about discovering us too? Personally, I would not be surprised in the least if we one day learned we are not alone in my life-time. After all, we have been sending radio waves out into the Universe ever since Adolf Hitler’s opening of the 11th Olympic games in Berlin, Germany in 1936. The CCAT telescope in the Atacama desert in Chile is making amazing discoveries daily now. Seems like we are prepared for that “mind-blowing” possibility now more than at any other time in our species existence. Then again, if you believe what some Scientists suggest, perhaps “life-seeding” (via natural means – asteroids/comets depositing the building blocks of life sparked into life via lightening, or via some artificial alien process – from life being transplanted here from life elsewhere) is how life began on this planet in the first place. May seem far fetched to some, but no more far fetched than the Book of Genesis. Regarding the Biblical perspective, some ancient images of angles and other objects emerging from the heavens do look very “alien.” Also, giant pyramids built in Egypt and Mexico by two completely different cultures (presumably completely isolated from one another), and the giant pictographs and crop-circles all over the world (some ancient, and some new) generate a lot of questions that should cause us all to naturally look towards the heavens, and to wonder, “Are we alone?” Some say of course not, God is with us. Others say of course not, there are 500 million planets in just the Milky Way galaxy alone, and it is only one galaxy in our known Universe, the cosmos is teeming with life!

My beautiful “silly monkey,” my “little bossing”… my future dreams incarnate.
You make me laugh, you make me smile, you brighten my life.
Funny noises, funny faces, your funny ways of doing things.
Coos, cuddles, caresses, calm moments alone, a dream come true.
Pinch, poke, pull… grab, grasp, grunt… you are full of determination and spunk!
“Let go of my nose!” “Let go of my ear!” “Let go of my beard!”
Never let go of my heart!
Your smile is contagious, I will never recover from it.
You’ve changed my life forever.
“Don’t eat your toe!” “Don’t fall off the bed!” “Don’t bite your brother!”
“Please stop slapping your mother!”
“You little “wiggle-worm,” you stink!” “Has anyone changed your diaper?”
You have more moves and energy than a midget wrestler!
I love you, and I am beginning to see clearly now,
your love for me, coming out of your own personality.
The beauty and innocence of your love, is heaven on earth.
One of the few times in my life I’m happy with the cards I’ve been dealt.
It hurts to see you cry, in pain, or scared…
It makes my heart soar to see you smile, laugh, and giggle.
May your whole life be filled with the kind of happiness I see in you now as a baby.
Your presence in my own life has transformed my world.
You make me silly, a singer of lullabies, and a lover of life again.
Thank you for the gift you’ve given to me, by just being you.
I will always be thankful for having the chance to have you in my life.
My dear sweet daughter, “mahal kita” Aurora. English translation: “I love you.”
You are the earth, the moon, and all the stars in my universe.

U.S. & E.U. economic sanctions (also known as “consequences”) against Russia for annexation of the Crimea are likely to occur any day now. Russian invasion of other parts of the Ukraine, and previous Soviet-block nations potentially eminent, because if your going to be “punished” might as well go big, or go home. So things are getting tense in Eastern Europe.

North Korea just launched 18-25 short range rockets into the East China Sea near South Korea in response to annual joint South Korean & U.S. war games. North Korea is also being accused of crimes against humanity in the U.N., and diplomats are calling for North Korea’s young leader to be put on trial for horrendous crimes against his own people. So things are getting tense on the Korean peninsula too.

China and the Philippines seem poised for conflict. And President Obama is coming to the Philippines next month to sign a new military defense treaty with the nation to ensure the Philippines, Vietnam, Japan, and South Korea, are a united front against Chinese expansion in the region. With the U.S. returning to the Philippines, and leasing military technology to them, it would appear diplomacy has officially taken a back-burner to defensive military preparedness. This should not be surprising though, ever since China began enforcement of it’s East China Sea air defense zone, and ever since it also proposed a South China Sea air defense zone.

Add to this volatile atmosphere the recent naval tensions arising over Philippine fishing near the disputed islands captured by China. The loss of plentiful fishing grounds, lucrative oil resources, and credible power may help one to better understand why it was not so shocking for Philippine President Benito Aquino to recently accuse China of behaving like Nazi Germany before WWII. So, in SE Asia, nations are preparing for armed conflict against China due to recent aggressive military maneuvers eerily similar to Russia’s in the Crimea. So you can say S.E. Asia is getting tense.

Then to top it all off, Syria, Russia, and Iran are already directly or indirectly at war with the Sunni Syrian rebels, the U.S., the French, Saudi Arabia, and various other Sunni Nations in the Middle East as we speak! All the while, America is still committed in Afghanistan, meddling in Pakistan, Egyptian, and Israeli affairs, and fighting surgical strikes against Somali rebels and other North East African militant groups who appear to be seeking to close the Suez canal to Mediterranean and Red Sea shipping.

But the real icing on the cake, add to this toxic global mix the shocking fact that 25 countries now have military planes and vessels basically all over Southern Asian to try to locate a missing Malaysian airlines flight without crashing into each other, or “accidentally” firing upon one another! So, in an age when the U.S. can track everyone’s cell phones globally, China can hack everyone’s computers, and Russia can down our spy drones without damaging them, all three of the world’s biggest super powers can’t find a commercial airliner that likely flew over multiple nations in South Asia! The result, MH 370 has likely been hijacked, and for who knows what sinister purpose! Such uncertainty affecting so many nations, can definitely cause further tension.

So with all hell breaking loose globally, and in this region particularly, I can’t help but keep thinking to myself, what a wonderful time for my family to leave the Philippines to fly back to America (via South Korea no less) preferably before World War III is officially declared! To be honest, I would feel a whole hell of a lot better if I knew MH 370 wasn’t going to be used as a potential spark to set the whole damn world on fire! God Speed to the passengers of flight MH 370, I hope they are found alive and well for the sakes of all their families suffering through a hell few could imagine. In a broader sense, heaven help us all to inspire world leaders to come to a political and economic consensus and treaty on the issues currently threatening to tear our world apart.

Think I am exaggerating my worry and concerns? Well take this fact into consideration: When the President of the most powerful country in the world threatens the President of the second most powerful country in the world that he will be “punished,” when Russia and China feel confident and bold enough to choose to exploit what they perceive is an apparent weakness and lack of resolve in our Commander in Chief, and then they annex and seize more power and control over different regions of the world, a U.S./E.U. response becomes inevitable and necessary. When one grasps this realization, it becomes clear global war is likely near (or has already arrived).

But in my humble opinion, if we could utilize the type of multinational cooperation being displayed in the search of MH 370 as a guide or object lesson for how all nations of the world should behave towards one another, then disaster could be averted. And surely it would be far better to avert the coming storm, rather than for us all to have to try to muster-up the strength and courage to weather it. The plight of Syria’s people could be an object lesson for us all regarding that potential nightmare.

Either way, my departure flight just can’t come quick enough for me now! After all, if the U.S. is going to go to war with Russia, Syria, Iran, China, and North Korea all at the same time, then I guess I would rather be back on U.S. soil in Alaska waiting for Russia, instead of sitting here in the Philippines “twiddling my thumbs” waiting to be invaded by China. Then again, when I look at the whole mess in that fashion, kind of sounds like “six of one, half dozen of another.” Either way, if a world war breaks out, rather than a de-escalation, then there will be no safe place to hide, or defend what is yours.

The political “poop” appears to be about to “hit the fan” folks! I sincerely hope I am wrong, but I’m afraid I might be right. So “batten down the hatches,” hold your loved ones close, hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. I think I am beginning to see why so many Americans choose to not watch the news, or think about politics. It is just too nerve-wracking and disappointing to allow yourself to worry about geopolitical controversies for long! That is why far too many would rather be blissfully ignorant of what is actually going on in the rest of the world. Particularly since so much of world politics appears to be so far removed from average American’s daily lives, even if it isn’t. Likewise, it is only natural most Americans feel powerless to prevent any of it. After all, Americans haven’t really trusted their government and it’s military-industrial complex since President Eisenhower’s dire warnings became true, and they started assassinating our Presidents.

That might be an important lesson for President Obama, because considering past historical precedent, it does not appear to be good for an American President’s health to look too soft on communism or the former Soviet Union. President Kennedy learned that lesson the hard way after the botched Bay of Pigs counter-insurgent revolution, and the Cuban missile crisis. The Crimea in the Ukraine is our modern Cuban Missile Crisis, and it and China’s aggressive moves in East and S.E. Asia are rightfully being compared to military strategies taken from Hitler’s WWII play-book. Perhaps that is why the power elite currently running America into the ground, appear to prefer a President willing to shoot, bomb, or wage war first, and debate with the American people or the world community whether it was the right thing to do later.

But with Secretary of State John Kerry announcing diplomatic options with Russia are coming to an end, perhaps a “shoot from the hip” Texas “gunslinger” as President makes far more sense now than a constitutional lawyer. Then again, perhaps Obama will yet try to show the world he can be an academic President with a back-bone too. Either way, it does not appear 2014 or 2016 elections in America will resolve the global mess we are in now, because “democratic” elections in other nations have already sealed the fate of foreign relations for America (and the rest of the world) for years to come. That is why, I just hope I can get home, before I have no country or home to come home to! I’ve been gone for 10 months, so I may not recognize it when I get back to begin with. After all, I left before the Edward Snowden spying revelations, back when Russia, China, the E.U. and the U.S. were economic partners and allies in the global economy. But then, that was a different era, and the America (and global political and economic climate) I once knew appears to have faced the same fate as MH 370, they have vanished into thin air while I’ve been abroad.

But one thing is clear, if Russia invades the rest of the Ukraine, then Eastern Europe, and China chooses to use Russia’s military distractions in Europe as an opportunity to gain supremacy in East and S.E. Asia, then the U.S. will be obligated to go to war with both countries at the same time to honor our long standing treaties with nations in both regions of the world. That potential possibility – that America might find itself fighting a global war on at least three fronts (one in Eastern Europe, one in North Africa, and one in East/S.E. Asia) – keeps me awake at night. I can only hope, that as I prepare to return to the country of my birth, and try to find a decent job to provide for my new family, that our plane won’t vanish. I also hope the last vestiges of the grand experiment regarding the global economy will not vanish as well before I return, only to be replaced by retro-isolationist “Cold-War” sensibilities I thought long dead. For if Russia and America are just going to go back to the same tired geopolitical posturing they engaged in before the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, then the last 25 years of economic free-trade and global economic and political reform were a monumental waste of time.

In the end, that may be the greatest fall-out from the Edward Snowden revelations, because his whistle-blowing did more than turn some patriotic Americans against their government, it revealed how much America’s military-industrial complex still distrusted previous enemies, but even worse, our allies. Global trade and cooperation hinged on a certain level of trust and sincerity, and once America was revealed as being hypocritical against China on the whole corporate espionage issue, and that America had been spying on virtually everyone, the world lost respect for the U.S. When President Obama defended the N.S.A.’s program as a necessary evil after 9/11, the world lost respect for our leadership (irregardless of which political party they were from).

So I am returning to America, but I am returning to an America that I’ve never known, and that has lost much of it’s credibility abroad while I was gone. I hope that in the next few weeks things will cool-off, and another “Cold War” or World War might be avoided, but if the same old thinking that got us into the monumental political messes of the 20th century are relied upon yet again to try to resolve current geo-political problems, then such a lack of imagination will only lead to further global conflict. But this time, it won’t be the U.S.S.R. and the U.S. fighting each other in Third-World periphery nations like Korea or Vietnam, it will be all-out global war again, between all the “super-powers” of the world. Then, the rise of the next great empires of the new Millennium (or more likely of the New World Order) will be built upon the nuclear fall-out, and ashes of the old. After all, if your going to try to justify and sell the idea that there is finally a real global necessity for a NWO, then the global devastation of World War III might just do the trick! But it makes sense really, if a majority of the people of the world are not buying what the governments of the world are selling them anymore, because they are out of work, oppressed, and can’t afford to, and the “beacon of liberty” has been virtually extinguished by the light of truth, then a fundamental global shift in how things are done moving forward becomes a political and economic necessity right?

Has anyone seen how the Syrian people have been doing lately? No, then tune-in to your favorite propaganda cable news service for a moment or two, and eventually you should see images of people who look like modern-day Holocaust victims. People are falling dead in the streets of malnutrition, and those still alive are being evacuated from some Syrian cities but are unable to walk or even stand. Then there are the crude barrel-bombs that have been dropped from helicopters to bomb Syrian rebel areas back to the stone-ages, along with the more surgical military strikes that have leveled entire neighborhoods all at once. What did the Syrian people do to deserve such ethnic genocide and such horrific war crimes? What was their crime against humanity that made them targets of their own government, enemy number one to their nation’s President? Initially, some kids wrote negative things about him on a wall somewhere outside their school. A day of rage was planned, but few showed up, but after the kids were arrested and beaten, an uprising ensued. For the uninformed, I shall provide the following excerpt from Wikipedia to enlighten those who have been living under a rock:

“The Syrian Civil War, also known as the Syrian Uprising,[71] is an ongoing armed conflict in Syria between forces loyal to the Ba’ath government and those seeking to oust it. The unrest began on 15 March 2011, with popular protests that grew nationwide by April 2011. These protests were part of the wider North African and Middle Eastern protest movements known as the Arab Spring. Syrian protesters at first demanded democratic and economic reform within the framework of the existing government.

In April 2011, the Syrian Army was deployed to quell the uprising and soldiers fired on demonstrators across the country.[72] After months of military sieges,[73] the protests evolved into an armed rebellion. The conflict is asymmetrical, with clashes taking place in many towns and cities across the country.[74] In 2013, Hezbollah entered the war in support of the Syrian army.[75][76] The Syrian government is further upheld by military support from Russia, which it stepped up in the winter of 2013-14,[77] – and Iran, while Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and United States[78][79] transfer weapons to the rebels.[80] By July 2013, the Syrian government was in control of approximately 30-40% of the country’s territory and 60% of the Syrian population.[81] A late 2012 UN report described the conflict as being “overtly sectarian in nature“, between mostly Alawite government forces, militias and other Shia groups[82] fighting largely against Sunni-dominated rebel groups,[83][84] though both opposition and government forces denied that.[85][86}

So, much like in the Ukraine currently, popular protests led to political instability, which led to unforeseen consequences that no one could have predicted, like Russia invading the Crimea. This is the primary problem for all political reformers across the globe, they want “change,” “hope,” and “reform,” but what they get is “change,” “despair,” and “oppression.” If you don’t believe me, just ask the Egyptians, or the Chinese!

In the American example, a new generation of outraged citizens are fed-up with the NSA, the CIA, the FBI, the IRS, the EPA, and most of the other acronym behemoth unconstitutional monstrosities that make-up the unlimited Federal government of modern America. So with the decline of democracy in America, and the rise of fascism, now when you go on the internet, you are inundated with posts to “Wake-Up” and “Move-On!” However, what those catchy slogans for change don’t mention is what happened to the Hippies when they tried to “make love and not war.”

Anyone out there old enough to recall the Kent State Massacre, or the 1968 Democratic Convention Police Riot? Or, has anyone wondered why so many political assassinations occurred during that hectic time period in our nation’s history? Or, has anyone ever read the COINTELPRO report about how our government dealt with political and social movements in the past? These little “bumps in the road” to progress and reform cause a hell of a lot of distrust and anger, and it may help to explain why our nation’s trust in government is at an all time-low still forty years later. However, these harsh and eye-opening lessons about protest, and the consequences of protest are not always easily learned or remembered in subsequent generations. It would appear there is a generational lag-effect, much like the one all nations have for war. If there hasn’t been a major uprising in a while, people forget what true oppression and repression feels like, and so the government feels obligated to remind them.The baby-boomers learned their lesson, that is why most of them cut their hair, put on suits and ties, and sold their ideals of love and peace, for more sex, drugs, and rock & roll.

The X-generation was no better, because for all our “rage against the machine,” as the Smashing Pumpkins “Bullets with Butterfly Wings” lyrics should have made clear to us all back in the 90s, “Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage!” And we were, so we bought our Birkenstocks, and our Third-World made tie-die shirts, and our hemp bracelets, but we didn’t wage war against the war wagers, because we didn’t want to lose our comfy place in line at the movie theater. After all, as the 1998 movie of the year “Forest Gump” made clear to us all, Americans didn’t have to be the brightest bulbs on the shelf to succeed, or to have interesting lives, they just had to believe in God, country, and to know when to “run” rather than to stand their ground, and try to be a hero. So, we learned to buy recycled products, eat what the government pyramid told us was good for us, and we tried to do like the popular song said, “Don’t worry, be happy.” Perhaps that was why so few of the X generation really raged against the machine, even if they did have their own Woodstock. It wasn’t until the Seattle WTO that protestors with big enough britches to oppose the New World Order did my generation proud. But what just desserts where they given for their anti-globalism idealism and environmental concerns? The Seattle police served-up tear-gas, rubber bullets, and mass arrests like pot-brownies at a Grateful Dead concert!

Since then, American protests against Iraq, and the Occupy Wall Street movements have had their moments in the sun, and rain, and snow, but for all their efforts, they never had the impact that Hoovervilles had on our nation’s political psyche almost a century ago. Why? At the onset of the Great Depression, America’s government was insensitive to the plight of the people, much like the Federal government now (since at least the Great Recession of 2008). However, once Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected, he initiated a “New Deal” for America that relied on Americans to trust their government enough to support the enlargement of the Federal system, presumably to do what was necessary and best for all Americans to have a better tomorrow. And with war profits, and the advent of the G.I. Bill, the American Middle Class was born, and prosperity for all seemed right around the corner. But then, when an educated Middle Class began questioning authority during the Vietnam war and fomenting civil unrest, it became very clear to the military-industrial complex that ignorance, poverty, drug-addiction, incarceration, and government dependency helped to ensure a future citizenry that would be far more pliant and pacified. Apparently they were right, because it has been working. This realization may help those who are still confused about why Barrack Obama’s presidency utilized the same approach as FDR with universal health-care and the expansion of the Federal government’s size and power, but has gone a different route when it comes to relying on the people’s trust in government to make it a reality.

The American people are disenchanted with Democracy and our government, and “a dark cloud is forming in the distance.” As a result, it would appear “no one can stop the approaching storm” since the Federal government is perceived by many to no longer appear to be “for the people, by the people.” So once again, America is at a political and economic precipice. Issues like the national deficit, the government shut-down crisis, the Edward Snowden leaks regarding blanket NSA spying, gun-control, along with other revelations about America’s recent unconstitutional abuses of power committed in it’s perpetual “War on Terror” – enhanced interrogation techniques (like “water-boarding”), secret prisons, drone strikes on civilian targets – these atrocities have ignited some American’s indignation, and may yet initiate a chain-reaction of protest and unrest among the American citizenry that cannot be contained or appeased by our political or economic systems.

However, before we all “rush in [like fools] where angel’s fear to tread,” I would remind the struggling youth of our Nation, and all those who would use political revolutionary tactics to try to change our political and economic system to be careful what you wish for! Political revolution is a Pandora’s box, and once you set it into motion, like war, it cannot be so easily controlled or guided in the right direction. In fact, more often than not, once a people have broken free from the yoke of their oppressors, they find the “beast” (or the mob) that was being oppressed is far worse than the master (or government) that was trying to keep everything moving in the right direction. For any of you who had a half-way decent English teacher in High School, the novel “A Tale of Two Cities” drove this basic point home in it’s description of the French Revolution. So before we all yell “Off with their heads,” perhaps we should keep in mind what we ourselves may lose in the end in our efforts to win a pyrrhic victory.

The American people are known for their apathy when it comes to many political matters, but not for their restraint. However, restraint may be essential in America in the future, if we wish to avoid the next great American civil-war, and if we want to ensure the American military is not called upon to quell civil unrest due to American protestors. Protestors who’ve been labeled as terrorists simply because a government infiltrator or informer has committed a violent act during a peaceful protest to justify and legitimize heavy-handed tactics by the police/military against the movement. This is how the military-industrial complex’s mass-media propaganda machine blames the movement for unrest (rather than admitting the primary role they play), and it is how they legitimize the stigmatization and government oppression of a group who only wish to compel the government to honor it’s pledge to the people. “The road to hell was paved with good intentions,” so “put that in your pipe and smoke it” the next time you want to “wake-up” and try to convince war profiteers and the government war-machine to just “give peace a chance.”

Or, if you would prefer to continue to exercise your archaic constitutional rights, and you are prepared to be rounded-up, put in box cars, and transported to death camps for your radical political views against the STATE, then keep on “moving on” and I’m sure eventually the Federal government will give us all some “Change we can believe in.” Although, believing in something, and wanting something are two different things. I can believe in Hell and the Devil, but that neither means I want to meet the Prince of Darkness, nor do I wish for our nation’s citizens to have to go and visit him, simply because disgruntled idealists wish to tear-down the “house of cards” that is America’s current form of government.

“I love my country, but I fear my government,” is the new slogan for a new America, but with more guns and more people living below the poverty line than ever before, I fear the mob mentality and anarchy as much as I fear my current oppressive and “Peeping-Tom” government. So, before we jump into the abyss of political and economic uncertainty, we had better make sure we have a societal safety-net (once called government) somewhere down below, or we may be taking “a leap of faith” into an impending doom of chaos and strife that will be darker than any previous Dark Ages in recorded history. Only time will tell, if America will withstand the test of times, Van Halen will be proud if we succeed I’m sure, but in my heart of hearts, I would rather see “Lady Liberty” convalesced back to health, than witness the death of the American Dream, and the rise of an American nightmare all within in my own lifetime. For at the end of the day, when all is said and done, I would hate if most Americans ended-up just being “Bulls on Parade” and emulated Rage Against the Machine’s famous lyrics, “They rally around the family, with a pocket full of shells.” But unfortunately, it seems many Americans have seen the writing on “the wall,” and they have already heeded the warnings. But when you protest against your government, and try to topple or reform it, and the government takes exception to your revolution, the consequences of treason against the state (no matter how well intended) is death. If you don’t believe me, just ask the Syrians.

After reading the article linked above, I can’t help but think that this is all starting to sound like a well-planned and well-orchestrated hijacking of some sort. This latest confirmed report about electronic signals being received hours after the aircraft went missing seems just a little too “fishy” to me. However, having the plane flown out of the area with the electronic telemetry turned-off so the plane would not be recognized on radar would help to explain why no debris have been found. But, then again, why hasn’t any other country confirmed unidentified radar signals? Why hasn’t anyone or any organization come forward with specific demands if they took the plane?

One thing is certain, unless the plane has been taken, and those who took it, have other more sinister plans, then debris should be located soon. However, if the plane has been taken by force, then a hectic “three-ring-circus” international search and rescue operation that wastes crucial time and resources, but provides an excellent distraction, for some group to strike without warning, when the global community least expects it, would be likely appreciated by any would-be terrorist organization. I truly hope I am dead wrong, but fear I may be right! And with the search and rescue being expanded to the Indian Ocean now, and the U.S. sending a Battleship to the area, it is beginning to appear America’s leadership may be fearing the worst as well. Let us all pray they never need to use the weapons at their disposal to fire upon a commercial airliner to keep a terrorist plot from succeeding. For if that day ever arises, I think all the people of the world’s hearts will break simultaneously.

Last night, my brother and my mother visited me in my dreams, it was the first time I can recall having them both around simultaneously in any dream. I wish I could remember more vividly what the dream was about now, but I am thankful that I got to see them again, if only for a moment or two, in my mind. I miss them terribly. Words cannot adequately express my loss, only those who’ve lived through such loss can understand it, and I don’t wish such understanding on anyone, not even my worst enemies.

But I guess at some point, we all must face the reality that all our loved ones will eventually pass on, either before or after our own demise. So what can we do about it, other than ignoring that harsh reality, or conversely, being a major party-pooper?

I try to remember to remind all my friends and relatives how precious each moment of our lives are, and that they should be so grateful for the time they get to spend with those they love (even for the arguments). I also try to appreciate each second I have left in my own life, and to live in the moment “smelling the flowers,” feeling the breeze on my skin, and truly being aware and embracing the fact that I am alive! Nowadays, I live for the chance to get to see my daughter’s smile and hear her laugh yet again, and again. It is music to my ears, and a beauty and innocence that is more precious to me than anything else I can imagine.

Living a life worth living, for your own sake, and for the sake of your children, is what it is all about. Honoring the memories of those loved ones that came before you, who hoped and dreamed for a happier future for you, is the secret to life, in my humble opinion. This is a far superior way to live, than just going through the motions, dreading the day ahead, and wishing you were doing something else with your life. So if you find yourself wasting your precious time in this fashion, do not walk, but rather, run to the exit of your current reality, and jump-off that “sinking ship” into another better possible future before it is too late! Why? Because despite popular opinion, sometimes “keeping one’s nose to the grind stone” in a dead-end career only causes your nose to get shorter, and your sense of smell to be destroyed!

I know what I am talking about, because at different times in my own life, I’ve experienced the dread of hating my job (or even my life), but not once have I felt that way since I’ve been abroad with my new family. Thus, in the final analysis of my precarious decision making process, I am very thankful for the respite I chose to take from the indentured servitude we all face as citizens living within a post-industrial,mass-consumption, capitalistic economy. Because lets face it, a one week vacation per year, 30 minute lunch, or two 15 minute smoke-breaks per day, just doesn’t allow for one to find the time to pursue their dreams, or to commune with those in our dreams who ran out of time before their own prime.

I am now so thankful I chose to take a year off from the “rat race” to pursue a better “quality of life” in the short run, rather than foregoing such meaningful moments with my new family in the hopes of acquiring a greater quantity of money or material possessions I can’t take with me. I am also so glad I allowed myself to think “outside of the box,” to resolve temporary calamities. Call me crazy, but if I was going to have a mid-life crisis, I think I had mine with a certain flare and style that most corporate automatons would find unimaginable and even potentially terrifying. So, in a way, I must say, I am very proud my mother raised me to become an adult with a “round peg” personality that just did not fit into American society’s “square hole.” After all, they will put me in that “square hole” soon enough, whether I choose to misuse my literary freedom to misquote an idiom for creative effect or not. Have a wonderful day, and an awesome life people! I am in your corner, and I wish only the best for you all.

The primary problem with Socialist economic and political systems, they do not take into account the destructive impact of the “free rider” problem. If everyone gets paid the same, or gets the same benefits, but motivated people are not rewarded based on merit and their efforts, then there becomes no incentive within the nation for anyone to work hard to achieve a better life. The tainted train of thought of someone exposed to Socialism without sufficient government restraint and oversight to avoid abuses goes something like this: “Why should I work hard, or try to aspire to a better income level with more responsibility, when it will just put me in a higher tax bracket, and force me to pay more taxes to the government? After all, doesn’t it make more sense to work less (or not at all), and get all the “free” benefits from the government?” This mindset, along with the abuse of Federal and State social programs, and the massive over-spending by our government to pay benefits to those who abuse the Health & Human Services system so they can track and maintain greater control over more and more “beneficiaries”, is one of the primary ideological diseases currently killing our country.

On the other ideological side of the cost equation, over-spending, fear-mongering, and the jeopardizing of our domestic defense by entangling foreign alliances, and the massive stock-piling and unwarranted build-up of military might beyond our means (or needs) is yet another ideological disease weakening our nation rather than making it stronger. We live in a nation bereft with enemies both foreign and domestic lurking behind every shadow, and within every computer. Thus, on both the Left, and the Right, common sense has been thrown out the window in our nation for political purposes, so politicians could appeal to their constituencies, and always say “yes” to any request or demand, rather than saying “no” when it was obviously necessary for the continued health and welfare of our nation.

We have a crisis of leadership in our nation today, our country is currently crumbling under the weight of it’s own government, and our economy has been crippled due to the sheer astronomical size of Federal debt. Plus, the icing on the cake is that we have a generation of impoverished citizens, paranoid military generals, and greedy corporate executives who are not accustomed to being told “no” by America’s elected representatives. However, in the future, I’m afraid “no” will have to be the new “yes” for the new millennium when it comes to Federal spending. Why? In case no one has noticed, the huge number of American “Baby Boomers” are retiring, and the much smaller, if not more modest “Y-Generation” is having a hard time finding the money to move out of their parent’s houses (or rental homes), much less to pay for their Grandparent’s medical bills, to replenish the Social Security fund, or to ensure the new F-35 fighter jet rolls-out on time for the next major orchestrated conflict. So, common-sense dictates something is going to have to “give,” and when I say “give” I don’t mean our Federal government giving out more tax breaks to corporations, more military spending for Defense, or more-dole monies to all those newly impoverished middle-class twenty-somethings now in need of a “hand-up, rather than a hand-out.”

On that Malaysian airlines flight 370 that is still missing, several people have been asking me why anyone would target it. But after looking at the 227 passenger nationalities, a few trends stand out. First, the passengers were of 14 different nationalities – citizens from:-

The two passengers who we currently know were traveling with stolen passports was a man (possibly Asian) posing as a man from Italy, and someone posing as a person from Austria. They don’t know yet if the other passengers being investigated were using stolen passports or not, and they don’t know for sure if the people traveling with stolen passports were trying to just immigrate illegally, or if terrorism was in fact involved. But they know the plane “disappeared” at 35,000 feet, but that it might have been starting to turn back towards Malaysia when it vanished.

Also, 23 people on board may have been Caucasian, which would have made it easier to blend in, if you had stolen passports from Austria and Italy (and were light skinned too). Also, if they were pale-skinned foreigners, they would be potentially less likely to be scrutinized through security quite as severely in a country like Malaysia – foreigners are not typically viewed as a security threat in SE Asia, drug-smugglers perhaps, terrorists no. If terrorism was involved, the target appears to be Chinese nationals, but with 23 “Westerners” on board, this plane was likely a high value target for any terrorist organization.

Could be Al Qaeda, could be Chinese separatists, or it could have been a faulty repair on the wing-tip by Boeing, but if the latter, you would think they would have been able to get a distress-call out. I guess it is even still possible that the plane has been hijacked, and landed somewhere still yet unknown. However, to pull that one off, I would assume the plane would somehow have to go “stealth” to fall-off military and civilian radar.

Everything is currently leading to the conclusion that some type of cataclysmic explosion occurred at 35,000 feet, and if that is the case, then there won’t necessarily be a lot of plane pieces to find.

My heart goes out to all the families of those affected by this global travesty. I hope they get to the bottom of this terrible, terrible catastrophe, and that no further lives are lost in similar incidents in the future. If Malaysian airlines would have simply cross-referenced everyone’s passport with INTERPOL records on file, perhaps this travesty could have been avoided. However, for a corporation, time is money, and if you can’t check customers in fast enough, you can’t keep your schedules, and you end-up with dissatisfied international travelers who can’t make their connecting flights. Malaysian airlines has been trying to increase it’s market share of the lucrative tourist trade, and I’m sure many working for them felt they couldn’t afford to delay international flights without sufficient justification. I guess now they have that justification, too bad so many may have had to die in order for Malaysian airlines to realize they may have a serious security problem in their Kuala Lumpur international terminal.

I've dedicated this page to helping wake up America. You'll find lots of topics here of interest to American Patriots who wish to defend the Constitution completely and want to see America thrive the right way. We're bitter clingers who support limited government, support our military and veterans, don't mind waving Old Glory, and telling you we love the USA. Are you with us?